


hey there demons it's me, ya boi

by kwonbagel



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 1-800-performaseancetoday, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Bad Puns, Banter, Based On Buzzfeed Unsolved, Character Death, Crack, First Meetings, Fluff and Crack, Happy Ending, Humor, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Na Jaemin Are Best Friends, Light Angst, Lots of it, M/M, Mark Lee & Lee Taeyong Are Siblings, Minor Violence, Swearing, et tu mark?, meaning its stupid enjoy losing ur precious human brain cells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:33:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24328837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kwonbagel/pseuds/kwonbagel
Summary: Donghyuck's five year plan did not include a trip to hell. Cue Mark Lee.Or alternitavely, a buzzfeed unsolved au with demons.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	hey there demons it's me, ya boi

**Author's Note:**

> Take a shot every time you recognize a reference. (Hint: there's 37.)

"Absolutely not." Renjun didn't so much as spare Donghyuck a glance from his screen, just wanting to go home and sleep because...well, he worked with a handful of idiots at Buzzfeed, unfortunately his current place of work. 

"Come on, Renjun," Donghyuck whined, falling back in his chair. It was an unspoken rule in the office that your life would be easier if you just gave Lee Donghyuck what he wanted. Renjun did not believe in this. Unfortunate, I know.

"It's a terrible idea." He stared him dead in the eyes.

"Pussy."

"I'm busy right now, Donghyuck. Go to hell."

"That's the right thinking. You see, we're going to do that, but we need you to be there for us to perform the séance since you're a 'believer' or whatever term they use these days."

Renjun stopped dead in his tracks from typing his upcoming article (he was rating cheesecake places because he's a sophisticated guy like that) to look back over at Donghyuck, whose presence simply caused an unbalance in his workspace. "Fuck. No."

"But Injunnie..."

"I'm not going."

"But Jaemin's going." Hyuck singsonged, fiddling with his straw (smh, we gots to save the turtles hyuck) as if he hadn't just laid down a royal flush.

"I hope you know I hate you," Renjun snipped but no longer as harsh as before.

"Is that a yes?"

"Fine." And with that, their fates were sealed to the supernatural.

-

"Why is it looking at me like that? Jaemin?" Renjun let an inhumane scream, and he skkrted five feet away (because he's not gay) when Jaemin touched his side in reassurance. Renjun would tell you he did not feel reassured, thank you very much. "This isn't it, guys. Fuck you, Lee Donghyuck."

Okay, so it might have been a bad idea but, in theory, Renjun's meltdown would bring a lot of views and thus money. So, was it really that horrible of him? As a friend, well yes. But an employee? Yeah, he didn't think so either.

"Renjun, I know you can't resist this ass but not in front of your boyfriend." Jaemin simply stared Donghyuck down, unamused. They were not boyfriends for your information. No, them, currently living together, sleeping in the same bed did not mean anything what-so-ever. (AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES.)

"I hope you know you're like AP chem because I've hated every moment I've spent with you."

“Hey now, that’s insulting to chemistry," Jaemin felt a need to add on. Why? We don't know, the goal was to end Donghyuck's reign of idiocracy.

"And that's on our friendship's coulombic attraction. Periodt." Donghyuck unironically clasped the air, and they all cringe momentarily because a dead meme that wasn't good to begin with, yikes. (I’m sorry I wrote this eight months ago.) 

"I fucking hate that even though you're a bitch, you're smart. What the fuck, God."

"Don't be salty, junnie. We know you can't help that you're so dumb-" Jaemin paused, a smile threatening to break onto his face. "-chloride."

"Go jump off a cliff," Renjun groaned. "Better yet, just push me off a cliff. Hell, sacrifice me during this fucking thing. It's sounding more appealing than being around you two morons by the second."

"Okay, just-" Renjun placed his hand over his mouth to stop him from talking.

"Don't. Don't even finish that dumb joke forming in your tiny head." Renjun could feel his frown. "Let's just get this over with, maybe death is waiting already." They shuffled their way to the main area of the estate.

“Renjun, why do you have a briefcase?”

“Because this is your guys' baggage,” Renjun dropped it onto the oak hardwood flooring and the loud bang echoed into the silent night. “From the past two hours.” 

“So basically, it’s your griefcase?” 

“Oh, for grief’s sake.” 

The house might have been beautiful once with its crystal, candle-tiered chandelier overhung the staircase in the foyer and rooms having a spacious opening to them, but that was all forgotten with it being buried in an eerie and aged atmosphere that crawled under your skin and didn't set quite right. The openness caused more of an edge, a threshold fear of what might be beyond the flickering, dull light emitted from your flashlight (when you would have sworn you just put in new batteries so they must just be bad because you couldn't have possibly forgotten). And how can't you be when every groundskeeper is scared witless a week into their hiring, babbling hysterically of ghosts, demons, and dark figures lurking all around. The estate was closed off soon enough after word spread around what was the village at that time. 

Fast forward past a few suicidal teens going in for the thrill of it, coming out with a loss of innocence, and a few folklores in between to the present. 

Cue the moronic trio. 

"Renjun, what are you doing?"

"Don't mind me, I'm just making a circle. I'm not about to be eaten by any demons today." Renjun poured a religious amount of salt into a circle around him. "I'm not taking any chances."

"I'm pretty sure that's what wards off sea bears."

"Fuck." Renjun sighed, kicking the salt every which way and brushing his pants off. "Jaemin, hand me my nichirin blade."

"You're a fool if you think you have what it takes to yield one." Jaemin looked up from painting a straight (well as straight as a non-cis could) red line to form the pentagram.

"Harsh."

"Okay," Donghyuck rolled his eyes at their endless bickering. Patience could only go so far when you're waiting to read out of a twelve-dollar spellbook you got off amazon. "Everyone in position yet?"

"Wait."

"Bitch, what now?" Donghyuck grumbled at Renjun's hesitation.

"It's just...why are we doing this again?"

"Light the candles and shut up."

"I'm asking a valid question, I mean-"

"I will shove your nichirin blade down your throat if you don't silence yourself and do it." Renjun huffed and muttered under his breath about "being forced against his will" but lit the candles, nonetheless.

Donghyuck, now satisfied, opened up the book to the first page. "Warning, user discretion advised."

"Is this the start of a b-rated horror film or something?" Jaemin laughed but shut up when Renjun elbowed him in the side.

"If you die because you mocked the dead, I will summon and revive you just so I can kill you again."

"...blah, blah, blah.... okay, where are the spells?" Donghyuck hummed after a few moments of skimming the pages, flipping them rapidly. "Ah, here we go. Dear whoever's listening, if anyone. Beloved spirit, please move among us and speak through us."

"This is bullshit," Jaemin exasperated his thoughts out loud and was immediately elbowed roughly on his side by Renjun once again. 

"Please ignore my friend, spirit. We welcome you with open minds and hearts."

All of the candles lining the pentagram flickered monetarily in unison. It would have been considered a sedative view if it wasn't for the current particular situation.

Donghyuck pursed his lip in dissatisfaction at the lack of activity. Their video was rapidly declining in clickbait content. What a shame. He had put a lot of effort into this one.

"This is super anticlimactic," Jaemin whined from his spot by the pentagram. As he went to stand, a pitch-black shadow-as if summoned-descended towards him from the wood supports above, only a hair away from grazing his cheek. Jaemin let out an inhuman squawk and ducked low, hugging his head. The raven, indifferent to the spike of fear, perched itself on the stair's railing, peering down at Renjun. 

"Oh hell no. That's enough for me." Renjun went to grab his bag, only for Donghyuck to snatch it out of reach.

"Not yet."

"How the fuck am I going to be any use because I feel like any second now the demonic bird is going to peck holes into my skull."

"Well, it's a good thing then that there's no brain in there for it to want."

"You're a bitch."

"Yeah, a bitch that's currently signing those nice paychecks of yours."

"He does have a point there. Donghyuck: one. Renjun: zero." Jaemin held his fingers up for the score. Renjun sat back down in his salt circle whilst giving an obscene gesture, but sat back down, nonetheless.

"Okay, take two," Donghyuck clapped his hands, "Spirits, if you're listening, please use us as a messenger. Make your presence known."

"Or don't," Renjun helpfully suggested. 

"Please forgive my friend's cowardly qualities. Not all of us were born perfect."

"A healthy reminder that you're talking to air right now." Jaemin was as brutally honest-slash-prickly as ever.

"Spirit, please use the energy in this room to materialize into your true form." These words seemed to light a spark as it seemed the room itself began to hum. But it did not hum with life but rather had a steady monotonous murmur. 

"Are we in a fridge now or something?"

"Shut up."

"Sorry, didn't mean to ruin the feng shui."

"Spirit, if you're there please make your presence known." There was a groan, almost like a door opening, in acknowledgment and silence followed after an abrupt stop of the noise. "Good going, Jaemin. You scared it away."

"It was probably the combined gayness in this room. It can be quite overwhelming, especially when comes it from a bottom like you-"

The perched bird whined as it began to contort around in odd, unnatural angles until it was reduced to a dark, formless being. 

"Uhhhh, guys, is it just me, or is the bird no longer a bird?"

"That's putting it simply."

"I suddenly don't feel safe in my salt circle."

"I think we should go."

"But it hasn't done anything yet," Donghyuck reasoned, now filming the being to get some good quality film. Priorities after all.

"That's your most horrible idea yet and you've had many."

"It didn't even attack us. Practically harmless."

"It dive-bombed my fucking face!" Jaemin flailed his hands in disbelief.

"But it didn't leave a scratch, now did it? You can't argue the facts. 'Tis but a flesh wound."

"The fact of the matter is that you're a dumbass." 

"But I'm a dumbass who's right."

Renjun pinched his nose at their bickering before intercepting. "Five minutes, Donghyuck. That's all you get."

"Fine by me."

The air ebbed around the trio as it filled their lungs and floated away as nothing but it left in return. Donghyuck continued to film The Conjuring as the other two impatiently waited by the doorway, anxious to leave the place.

There was approximately two minutes left when another sudden movement took place. The 'journalists' watched with growing horror as the raven's wings expanded into lengths unheard of. It squawked, suffering an agonizing pain as it morphed. The feathers began to shed away, leaving a new skin (that shared unnerving characteristics with that of humans) in its place. 

Face reduced to an ashen expression, Renjun squeaked these two words: "It's Voldemort."

The quickly forming thing groaned lowly as its bones snapped into place. Donghyuck was just beginning to be able to make out a pair of legs when the, what once was, raven's face exploded like a busted seam and out came a human head with, surprise, raven hair and heavy-lidded eyes. Its expression was unamused as it stared at the group.

It shrilled up momentarily from sensory overload, taking in its new form, before stretching its limbs as it became more adjusted.

It wasn't the morphing that got to Donghyuck though, no it was something else that made his skin crawl uncomfortably. There was something off about those dark, soulless eyes, something hidden. They looked like they were haunted by some unknown. 

"I don't think that's Voldemort. How about we go now, yeah?" Donghyuck tripped over his words due to speaking rapidly. 

"Great idea, Einstein!" Jaemin yelled at his idiotic best friend as they struggled to run to the car with all their equipment. Sure, they were about to die, but they'd rather be dead than have to pay off the debt to Buzzfeed for the equipment.

"Why are we going so fucking fast!?!"

"We're literally about to die or you're quoting fucking TikTok?"

"If we live through this, I'm killing you both," Renjun hollered back at them as he Usain bolted for it. 

“Are you alright?” Donghyuck leaned on Jaemin, gasping for breath. 

“I almost died.” 

“Um...is that a no or?” 

“Ahh, nice and cold,” Jaemin mumbled with a sigh, placing his palm over Donghyuck’s heart. 

“I will end you if you don’t get your hand off me.” 

“Sue me.” (insert law and order bgm.)

"Guys, that was some nevermore shit. I can't believe that just happened."

"Nevermore is right. I'm never doing that again. I don't ever want to receive my paychecks from Donghyuck anymore," Renjun spoke unevenly as his eyes watered after being free from the paralyzing terror. "You owe me some Taco Bell."

"We almost potentially, just now, had our hearts ripped out and you want to go get fast food?" Donghyuck stared at his co-worker in a mix of disbelief and awe.

"It's that or convert to cannibalism. The latter's becoming more and more appealing by the second."

"Yeah, okay, whatever you say. Let's just get out of here."

"I think that's the greatest idea you've ever had," Jaemin, newly licensed somehow, huffed from the driver's seat as he pushed the car's start button. The night slowly wrapped around them through thoughts of a thick seven-layer burrito on the journey there as the near-experience unwillingly took a toll onto them. Donghyuck especially so, feeling as if those haunted eyes were still weighing down on him. 

And so, they dined in at Taco Bell, looking like they're straight out of the end scene from The Avengers.

-

Donghyuck was not an obsessive person. Everyone who knew him could tell you that he was the type to leave business unfinished. A brilliant video idea? Simply abandoned in the thousands of other files taking space on his laptop. Easy 300-piece puzzle? Left incomplete on his counter at home. He rarely even ate the same meal often. Like it was said, not obsessive. 

So, it was quite out of character for Donghyuck to still be thinking about that night. Normally, he would be back to his normal self after a night of good rest, but his thoughts only kept going back to that room. This memory of it just felt off, as if the dial wasn't turned just right. There had to be something more to the raven's, but longer exactly a raven, being. Something he hadn't noticed before. 

It hadn't helped either that the night of, he opened his bag up-expecting only his pre-research notes and the spell book-and was met with an item. A worn down, silver coin, to be specific, he knew for a fact was not his own. He wasn't sure what it was if he was being honest with himself, but he figured that it was some sort of currency he had never seen before. Its worn age hinted it wasn't of recent years. 

_Huh...toss a coin to your witcher,_ he thought in bemusement.

Pocketing the coin, he played with his lip in deep thought. Curiosity was getting the best of him. He would look further into it the next day but for then, he needed to go to sleep in order to wake up on time for work.

 _Surprise, surprise_ he thought bitterly. He didn't catch a single wink of sleep. Sitting up in his warm sheets, he harshly rubbed away at his bleary eyes in aggravation towards the birds chirping outside his window. Nature was a horrible nuisance. 

Eventually, he climbed out of bed after a few moments of preparing himself to face the world. He regretted it instantly as his feet hit the freezing cold hardwood. "Goddammit," he groaned and flopped back into bed. He blindly grabbed for his phone and found the device after tossing everything off the side of the bed. He unlocked it, scrolled for a few moments, and held it up to his ear. "Hey, this is Donghyuck. I'm not feeling well, I think it might be best if I stay home from work today...yeah...okay, see you tomorrow, Doyoung." Once the other side of the line went dead, he threw his phone back onto the pile and sighed into his pillow. Buzzfeed be damned for the moment. 

When Donghyuck woke up for a second time that day, he felt replenished enough to take his investigation back into the forefront of his mind for consideration. He rolled the coin across his knuckles repeatedly as he considered his options which consisted of:

  1. Continue to go about his life and pretend the curiosity wasn't eating away at him. Pro: 0% of death by supernatural ravens.


  1. Go to the library and research further on the house and its mysteries. Though they already spent hours doing such things for the video but not necessarily narrowed onto one thing in particular. He could also consider hooking the others into helping him in this ordeal. 
  2. Just go for it and figure it out during potential near-death experiences. And nobody would stop him from going. (Like the resistance he expected from Renjun and Jaemin.)



He quite liked the idea of option c. Though rather impulsive, it would be rather quick and Donguck didn't believe-ignoring the fact that a raven pulled some of McGonagall's transfiguration-any harm would be inflicted on him.

Even so, his heart threatened to beat out of his chest when faced with the outside of the worn-down house. The rhythm stilled entirely as he entered, and the front door creaked open. It was exactly as the trio had left it with the pentagram on the ground, (now) extinguished candles, and the salt circle. Nothing was touched, not even a speck of dust. Donghyuck let out a shaky breath he hadn't even known he had been holding. _Get a grip, you coward._

"This is not your house. Leave," a voice demanded. It came from the rafters above. 

Donghyuck's body unwillingly shook pitifully at the abrupt noise. "Who's there?"

The voice sighed after a moment. "Yo, literally just said this is not your house...it's not your concern?" Donghyuck blinked at the slang, fear rapidly being washed away. "Why aren't you, like, going yet?" 

"Are you the raven from the other day?" He wondered aloud, having no intention of leaving now. Perhaps the owner of the voice would know where the coin came from. 50/50 chance it might just kill him instead, but he had a death wish so it's a winwin.

The voice didn't answer, and it took Donghyuck a few moments to realize that they hadn't because they were climbing down. "I prefer the term: demon, human." For a demon, he looked unmistakably human with his dark locks and sunken, rich brown eyes that seemed to hide the horrors haunting them. His cheeks, hollowed, seem to collapse in on themselves.

"Okay, _demon_ ," Donghyuck put emphasis on the word, "Were you the raven?"

"Yes, is that all you want?" The demon snapped back, irritated from being disturbed. 

"Actually, do you know what this is?" Donghyuck pulled the coin out of his pocket and jerked his arm back, hand gripping around it protectively as the demon, wide-eyed, made a reach for it. 

"Where did you get that?"

"Nuh-uh, I asked first."

"How childish, as expected from a human." The demon, easy to succumb, rolled his eyes as Donghyuck wordlessly looked at him in expectancy. "It's a gateway to hell."

"What." He blinked, dumbfounded on if he heard correctly. "It can take you to hell?"

"Yes, I believe that's what I just said."

"So how does it work?"

"Well, in order for it to even-" The demon abruptly stopped. "No, it doesn't matter. You're a human."

"But-"

"No, humans don't belong in hell. Even if you were to go as, I don't know a fucking tourist, there's no guarantee you would be allowed to come back. It's unheard of for a human to go alive."

"Wouldn't the coin let me be able to come back, though?"

"Think of it more as epi-pen. It has a one-time use and should only be used in life-threatening moments, except it's in the case of a demon emergency. The only reason a human should find themselves in hell is if they were fated to be there."

"Okay but usually when you use an epi-pen, it's to delay the reaction until you can, hopefully, get actual help. So, what if there was a way? In hell."

"Are you even listening to a word coming from my mouth, living people such as you do not go to hell, or you very well might find yourself stuck there permanently."

"How do you know this?"

The demon blinked for a moment before he started, "Well, that's just how it's always been."

"So, it's just, what, demon folklore? Only a theory?"

"Not exactly. But that's beside the point, why do you even want to go to hell to begin with? It's not exactly portrayed as a pleasant place by you humans."

"You act as if you weren't once human too because I'm sure you already know people are full of complete and utter bullshit. Yellow journalism and all, you know."

"No... I really don't. Yellow journalism?"

"Jesus, just how old are you?"

"You know the Joseon dynasty?

"Yeah."

"I was a head advisor to Yi Seong-gye." The demon patiently looked at Donghyuck, who could only blankly stare back. "I know, I'm ancient. Don't rub it in."

"Holy shit," Donghyuck wheezed. "You're older than any of the fossils I've found in Animal Crossing. Literal dinosaurs."

"Okay, you're blowing it out of proportion here... What's this crossing for animals?"

"Oh, you poor soul! Do you even know what a microwave is? Air conditioner?"

"Human-"

"Donghyuck," Donghyuck supplied helpfully between wheezes. 

" _Human,_ I'm in a house right now. I wasn't born yesterday."

"Or in this century."

"I will end you."

"Nah, not if you want this coin you so desperately reached for." Donghyuck wiggled the coin under his nose, and the demon's eye involuntarily twitched.

"Not if I take it from your cold, rigid hands."

"That's hot." Donghyuck winked. "But you'll find it hard to get it if I were to-" The coin rolled on his knuckles for a moment before it vanished into thin air. He made a show of his palms being empty. "Tada, magic."

"Fuck, where did it go?" The demon cursed. 

"Wouldn't you like to know? Now, terms and conditions."

"For what?"

"You want the coin, right? Well, it's under my terms now."

"Humans... selfish motherfuckers," the demon muttered under his breath in spite.

"What was that?"

"I asked if your mother fucked a goat?"

"Baaaaa-ha. Shut up so I can finish." Donghyuck could feel the demon's hot breath fanning onto his face as he huffed. "You've been alive for centuries, surely you have some sort of work ethic and plenty of knowledge of the paranormal. So you're going to live with me and help me out with work and in exchange, you'll get this precious coin." Donghyuck flicked the coin into appearance for only just a second and removed it again before the demon could react. 

"...Fine."

"Awesome." Donghyuck gave him a toothy grin. "So tell me, demon, how come you're not in hell right now? Is that why you need the coin?"

"You summoned me. I can't leave until your untimely death. If only it could be by my hands..."

"Seriously!?! Was it the pentagram or am I just that attractive? Oh, you sinner…" Donghyuck whistled, mocking the "scandalous" behavior.

"Oh angel, I've done far worse."

"Right. Demon. Forgot that bit." Donghyuck awkwardly bit at his lower lip. _Angel? How ironic._ "But you didn't object to it being because of me."

"Well, I can tell you that it certainly wasn't because of that shit circle. Honestly, could that even be defined as a geometric shape?"

"Fuck off. My favorite hoe drew that beautiful art right there." Donghyuck pushed him towards the door. "Jaemin works with filming equipment for a living not, I don't know, rhombuses." 

The demon cracked a small smile at that, climbing into the passenger seat of Donghyuck's yellow buggy. "Mark."

"Sorry, what?"

"My name's Mark."

-

"Welcome to Buzzfeed, Mark."

"Thank you, Doyoung. It's nice to see you again after so long." The last part went unnoticed by Donghyuck, too busy draining his morning coffee. 

"It's nice to see you again as well, though the circumstances are a bit unexpected. I'll be leaving you in Donghyuck's hands. He will show you around the office, at least hopefully he will. Again, it was nice seeing you, and you're pretty much set as long as you just don't fuck anything up." He stalked back into the conference room, presumably to crush the life out of his employees.

"That's reassuring," Mark mumbled, turning to his work "buddy". 

"Don't look so down, I'm here!"

"That's exactly why I'm fucking depressed."

No, working at Buzzfeed together wasn't the worst of fates, but, rest assured, it was quite something else. 

"MARK LEE, CURSE YOU!" Mark rolled his eyes, ignoring Donghyuck's screech as he poured an espresso shot into his already black coffee. He did not have the will to deal with him on that day. 

"What did you do?" Jeno, one of the company's editors, peered around the fridge in the break room to get a clear view of Mark. Their eyes caught and Mark just shrugged, taking a seat at the table to nurse his coffee. 

Mark got all five seconds of silence before the break room's door banged harshly against the wall, causing his coffee to vibrate as Donghyuck stormed in. 

"What did you do to the footage?"

"What footage?"

"From the mansion!"

"I... what?" Mark sat the mug down, rubbing at his temples. "I haven't looked at any footage since I've been here all of four days."

"Oh, so it doesn't have to do with the fact that you fucking morphed into-" Donghyuck yelped, his shoulder popping as Mark dragged him out of the room in the blink of an eye.

"I'll just be in here...minding my own business," Jeno called out from the break room. Mark rolled his eyes before pushing Donghyuck into the excluded prop room at the corner of the office. 

"You can't just yell shit like that out! But don't worry, I don't think the scientists in Antarctica quite caught what you said!" Mark hissed. 

"The scientists in Antarctica aren't going to matter when I start the next revolution. I've been working on this project for weeks!" Donghyuck matched his harsh gaze, equally pissed. 

Mark pinched the bridge of his nose, took a breath, a much-needed one that Donghyuck always seemed to be the cause of lately, and stepped back. "I'm sorry about the footage but I really didn't have anything to do with it."

Donghyuck visibly deflated as if he was hoping it was Mark. "Goddammit." His hair stuck up every which way from relentlessly tugging at it throughout the day. Mark couldn't help it as he impulsively brushed it down. His heart hammered in his chest for the first time in centuries as his hand lightly caressed Donghyuck's skin. Donghyuck leaned into his touch for only a moment before slowly dwindling against the wall. 

"We could go and redo the footage tonight? I got all the time in the world." 

"Right, because you're dead."

"I prefer the term momentarily departed but yeah. I could try to do the raven transformation again...though I don't think I can now that I'm bound to you for now. But how 'bout it?"

"No use, Doyoung threw the idea out. I'm going to have to come up with something new and do it quickly." Donghyuck gaze fell to the floor, crestfallen.

"Sounds like you're going to need all the help you can get."

"Yeah…if only I had help." Donghyuck looked up, eyes sparkling, and Mark's stomach lurched. 

"I know just the person."

"Oh, you do now?"

"Yep, he happens to work here as well and has no projects currently."

"I'm on the edge of my seat, who?"

"Someone we both know very well."

"Hmmm."

"In fact, why don't you go ask now? Jeno's on break."

"Mark Lee," Donghyuck let out with a small laugh that came off more like a huff, "I hope you rot in hell."

"Already am, hyuck."

And so, the next week goes like such:

"I just want someone to take me out," Renjun sighed, slumping down onto his workspace next to Donghyuck. Mark, doing whatever on his desktop across from Donghyuck, peered over in mild interest.

"Like on a date or with a sniper gun?" Jaemin and Jeno looked up from their conversation and rolled their chairs over, perking up to listen. Mark and Donghyuck exchanged a knowing look.

"Surprise me."

"I know some famous hitmen if you ever consider the latter," Mark provided.

"That's funny," Donghyuck stared at him down. "But you're just a regular dude."

"Haha, right. Just Mark."

"What the fuck is up with you two?" Renjun replaced his disappointment with confusion.

"THEY'RE FUCKING, DUH!" Zhong Chenle's head barely popped out of the HR's office before the door slammed back closed. 

They all stared at each in silence for a moment. "Um, we've only known each other for like a few weeks," Mark coughed out, flustered.

"Only roommates," Donghyuck supplied helpfully.

"Wait so if Mark's living with you and your apartment has one bedroom...that means you two are fucking." The imaginary light bulb glowed above Jaemin's head, extremely inaccurate yet aglow, nonetheless.

"No," Donghyuck persisted. 

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

"Technically Chenle connected them," Jeno pointlessly commented, but what would they do without his dull commentary especially during the last office banquet with the danish incident. Office rule nine: don't ever mention the danish incident. 

"There's no dots to connect!" 

"What dots?" Doyoung, appearing out of nowhere, spoke right beside Mark. Mark yelped and ever so gracefully fell backward in his chair. 

"Nothing, boss," Renjun squeaked as everyone rushed to feign being busy. Doyoung only sighed before stocking off, and Donghyuck sent Mark an apologetic glance. 

"Mark, while you're up will you go get the document that I'm printing." Donghyuck queued the contract on his desktop and hit the print feature. 

"Sure." Mark brushed off his slacks and made his leave from the room to the break room where the printer was housed. 

"So... Mark Lee," Renjun started up once said person was out of range. 

"What about him?"

"You like him, don't you?"

"No." Donghyuck hid his expression behind his water bottle. 

"Bitch, when Jaemin tried to share an apartment with you, it lasted all of two days before you kicked him out for thinking too loud." 

"You and I both know that was totally a valid reason. He lowered the IQ of the whole street!" 

"Anyway, my point being that Mark is still there."

"So?"

"It's not just Jaemin! You've never had a roommate that's lasted more than four days max. I can't think of one good reason why you'd keep him there unless you like him."

"I don't like him. Why would I-" Donghyuck's protest was cut off by a loud crash followed by a series more. "What on earth is happening in there?"

"Why don't you go see?" Renjun suggested. "It's your boyfriend after all." Donghyuck scowled at him in response but got up to investigate the cause.

Donghyuck blinked at the sight of Mark beating the printer with a fire extinguisher and contemplated just leaving. "What are you doing?"

"It won't print," Mark growled between him hitting the printer. If it wasn't an inanimate object before it certainly was after coming into contact with Mark Lee. 

Donghyuck went to inspect the printer and its screen blinked furiously at him. "No shit, it's out of ink."

"It requires ink?"

"God, you really are from the Joseon dynasty."

"How do we feed it ink?" Mark set down the fire extinguisher to sheepishly rub his neck. 

("WE'VE BEEN JAMMED!" A voice outside the break room hollered for the fifth time that week, presumably Jaemin and his homemade strawberry jam to blame.)

"No use," Donghyuck replied after a moment. "Not after you went Godzilla on it."

"Godzilla?"

"Nothing," Donghyuck muttered in disappointment. "Just go back to whatever you were doing."

"I had just discovered this thing called Amazon! It has so many things like a yodeling pickle." Mark's hands flew all about in a stir of excitement. Donghyuck would've been amused by the cute mannerism if he wasn't under this circumstance.

"Mark, I'm slaving away on finding a new project for us and you're online shopping?" 

"Uh, right. I'll just go do that…" Mark scurried off as Donghyuck scoffed. 

"Babysitting is my second job now, I guess."

"Staff meeting, everyone!" Doyoung yelled from his office a few weeks later. When nobody moved, he stuck his head back out. "Now!"

Everyone frantically scrambled to grab their papers and email their presentations. Legend says that the last person who was late for a meeting ended up on set cleanup for two months. 

Donghyuck took a second to turn to Mark and offered a high-five, which Mark reciprocated. "We got this, bro."

"Lesgidit." They had barely finished their PowerPoint due to Mark's fascination. It was hard to explain how the slides disappear with a click when you yourself didn't know. 

Their presentation went without a hitch, Doyoung giving his approval for the project.

"You did awesome, Mark," Donghyuck squeezed Mark's shoulder, leaving his arm with a tingling sensation. His heart sank in disappointment when his hand receded after lingering from the slightest of moments. "Here, have a donut." Donghyuck handed him a powdered donut before rushing back to his seat. Jaemin, next to him, leaned over and whispered something in his ear that left him flustered, prompting Donghyuck to pinch him hard on the side. Jaemin only laughed and made his way to the board to begin his presentation. 

Instead of seating in his own seat, Mark walked over to Donghyuck as everyone turned their attention to Jaemin's video idea on the pros and cons of communism. Mark had no idea what a "communist" was, but he had met this Stalin before in hell. Interesting lad.

Leaning on the back of Donghyuck's chair, Mark quietly muttered, "What was that all about?"

Donghyuck flinched and whipped his head to look at him. "Don't sneak up on me, and it's none of your business."

"Okay, okay. I was just asking." Mark chuckled, pushing off the seat and holding his own weight.

"Well, eat the donut instead."

Out of goodwill Mark took a bite into it, only to drop the donut in surprise of the jelly inside. Donghyuck reached for him but it was no use as Mark, yelping, stumbled back hard into an object that dug sharply into his skin. It soon gave in to his weight as he, unable to control his limbs, crashed completely into it and it made a loud sound in protest. 

"Dammit Lee, that's the fourth printer this month!"

"I made that donut, you know!" Johnny from production glared at him. "And you killed it!" The donut was limply laying under the conference room table at that moment. 

"Sorry..." Mark grimaced at his try to (unsuccessfully) wipe the red, sticky jelly off his slacks. "But why isn't the printer in the break room?"

"To stop you from breaking it!"

"Obviously that worked out well." Peals of laughter came from Donghyuck, leaving Mark entranced as he glowed, his laughs seeming to bring him to life. Mark couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed that he was whom they were laughing at. He'd do it a thousand times over if that meant he could hear Donghyuck laugh forever.

\----------------

There's a saying that goes as so: the calm before the storm. And there's a reason for it, Donghyuck found himself realizing as his time with Mark grew. 

"This is it. Turn right up ahead then another right immediately," Mark instructed, reading off Donghyuck's phone as well as he could. He wasn't quite accustomed to the iPhone yet. At least tablets somewhat resembled his scrolls back in the day. 

Donghyuck peered out the window as he slowed the car into a roll. "It kind of looks like a castle, like Hogwarts."

"It kind of looks similar to the devil's place."

"You would know."

Mark, in a caffeine-induced state, had found out about the abandoned psychiatric hospital from one of the ghosts apparently taking residence in the apartment above Donghyuck's (long story). 

"Got everything?" Mark asked softly and Donghyuck nodded in response. They climbed out of his yellow buggy and shuffled toward the entrance. As they got closer, Donghyuck was beginning to regret agreeing to this idea. It was just a building, shut down after one too many controversial rumors, but it sent chills down Donghyuck's spine as he imagined the cruel and now outdated treatments the patients were subjected to. 

They paused once they were faced with the entrance and peered through the glass doors. Mark looked over at him before pulling the camera out of this satchel. "Ready?"

"No, but we're here so…" Donghyuck pushed down the unsettling feeling and stepped forward. And took another impatient step forward because the sliding doors weren't sliding open. "What the fuck." 

"Maybe it's user error."

"Shut up. They might be malfunctioning because they haven't been used in like decades."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is."

"You can't speak. You're centuries older than them." Mark huffed in response but began recording much to Donghyuck's displeasure for when he'd have to edit the footage later (or at least he assumed). "Part for me, peasant! I'm Moses." Donghyuck waved his arms at the relentlessly stubborn door. Mark raised an eyebrow as if saying _you're a moron_ and preceded to push the-

_Oh, it's a swing door._

"Well, are you coming?" Mark spoke from the other side of the glass. Donghyuck blinked before pulling on a half-hearted scowl. 

"Oh please, I have more stamina than that." Donghyuck winked at a confused and oh so oblivious Mark and entered into the building. Donghyuck placed himself in the dead center of the lobby and spun around to face Mark. "Let's get rolling." Donghyuck did the "clap". 

"This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved we explore the Waverly Hills Sanatorium-" Donghyuck did some quick gestures, a show of them being there. "-which I know nothing about for once. Take it away, Mark."

"Right," Mark paused the camera and led the way. 

Donghyuck, having a death wish, hollered down the main hall. "Hey ghouls! The boys are here!"

"I will not be held accountable for your actions when we get assaulted by said ghouls and you lose the equipment once again."

"Hey! That was entirely your fault for doing that weird body contortion."

"You're the one that summoned me."

"Your fault for becoming a demon... like what the fuck did you do to go to hell anyway?"

"Murder," Mark sent him a dazzling smile, and Donghyuck was sure if to take it seriously or not. There was something unsettling hidden by his smile. It almost looked like guilt. "Anyway, we're here for a reason."

Just as eager to change the sour mood in the air, Donghyuck agreed. "...yeah, let's take a look around and you fill me in as we go."

"Okay, good idea." Mark started up again after a fleeting moment. "On July 26th, 1910, Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened to treat patients of tuberculosis. On October 17th, 1926, a bigger version of Waverly Hills that we are now sitting in tonight opened to accommodate the overflow of patients from the tuberculosis epidemic, which I had no idea what that was until the other day ago-"

"Yes, we get it. You're old as fuck."

"The hospital is five stories tall and was built on a quiet space atop a hill, where it was thought that patients would be at peace and receive lots of fresh air. Most importantly, it would keep the patients quarantined far away from crowded areas. This is the place where nightmares are made. Look at that." Mark gestured down a pitch-dark hall to their left. 

"It's a very dark hallway."

"How observant."

"You told me to make comments. But just continue breaking down the history then, Mr. Robot." Mark guided him to a hall towards the end of the faculty before continuing.

"It could accommodate up to 500 patients. Unfortunately, not all the treatment was effective. They also used electroshock therapy to treat patients whose tuberculosis spread to the brain. The electroshock therapy is on the first floor of what we call the Morgue Wing."

"Well, that certainly boosts morale," Donghyuck muttered under his breath. Mark ignored him as he opened a door and ushered Donghyuck in.

"On the bright side, they had a cute garden because they had to be self-sufficient."

"They would love Harvest Moon."

"What?"

"Ugh, nothing. I really need to bring you up to speed on pop culture, Mark." Donghyuck pouted his lips at the fact. "Is this Satan's sex dungeon?" Donghyuck eyed Mark wearily as Mark pulled on some wiring covering the path into another area.

"There were so many deaths at the time that they had to have a special tunnel to transport the deceased out of eyesight of the other patients. This is 'The Body Chute'. It is approximately five hundred feet long." Mark grimaced as he spoke. _Perhaps it's because he's dead so it's still a sore subject_ Donghyuck theorized.

"Cool, let's take a look down there." Mark shot him a look but Donghyuck took it as him agreeing. He started off down the chute. "Damn, this is long. Are you sure we're not going to hell?"

"Hell is more welcoming than this." Mark snapped the camera shut and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "It's actually sort of nice."

"Don't insult 'The Body Chute' like that."

Mark rolled his eyes, but his face had turned ghastly pale. But his behavior seemingly calm is what threw Donghyuck off. "Come on, there are specific areas of this former hospital that we should discuss and investigate in detail."

They climbed up the stairway in silence before Mark began to film once again. "On the third floor, there are reports of a little boy named Jisung, who likes to play with a blue rubber ball." Donghyuck couldn't contain his snort. "Are you okay?"

"Hi Jisung," Donghyuck spoke to the empty hallway of floor three. "I heard you like balls."

"Yeah, I just said-"

"Wanna play?" 

"Okay, I have no idea what you're going on about but let's continue our journey upstairs to the fifth floor." They made their way up the building. "One room in particular on this floor that is arguably the most active and definitely the most controversial, is room 502. It has a reputation due to the two suicides that supposedly occurred there. One being a nurse that jumped out of that window." Mark pointed at the window that faced the front yard, and Donghyuck let out a whistle.

"That's a hell of a fall."

"Would you stop talking about hell? Anyway, the other suicide was a patient."

"Hey there demons. It's me, ya boi." Donghyuck made his way into the room.

"I feel I should be insulted by that."

Donghyuck examined the room for any clues, leaving Mark to quietly film but looked back at Mark after a few minutes. "How'd they do it? I'm sure they were under extensive watch."

"That's the kicker, it's a bit unclear."

"Why?"

"Because there's no eyewitness accounts."

"But there were a lot of patients and staff... how?" 

"I think it's best if I tell your audience this one." Mark handed over the camera to Donghyuck for him to film. "Choi Daeun had undergone severe electroshock therapy due to the illness and the therapy caused her to go insane. From what little the police could find, they found paperwork of episodes where she would threaten any person in close proximity with many things while screeching like a goat. The doctors brushed it aside, thinking she was a harmless woman, not worth their attention."

"And turns out they were sexist, wrong, and majorly fucked up?" Donghyuck guessed behind the camera, sighing at the ignorance of humanity.

Mark nodded sadly. "And she ended up killing every single person in the facility at the time. Officials that reported to the scene left traumatized by the site. It was a bloodbath, to put lightly."

"Good thing they had the chute, I suppose."

"I guess…but still."

"So, I'm guessing we're here to see if she's still here?"

"Wait? No!" Mark shook his head, startled by the question. "She killed almost a hundred people. Let's not summon another demon, Hyuck."

"Rock and roll buckaroo!" Donghyuck sent him a wink. "Hey demon!" 

"How about we not provoke the tormented soul that killed people, yeah?"

"Mark, you're literally a demon."

"Yeah, a vulnerable demon because I'm in human form currently! Why is that? Oh yeah because you summoned me from my house. Which by the way I was in the middle of cutting up my watermelon that I-" 

"Why won't the demon talk to us? Maybe she's homophobic…" Donghyuck scrunched his nose in thought.

"We're not gay."

"We aren't?" Donghyuck looked him up and raised an eyebrow. Mark shifted, feeling exposed under the scrutinizing gaze. 

"How about we just go now since she's obviously not answering."

"Or…" Donghyuck paused thoughtfully before opening his mouth, and Mark gulped, already regretting discovering the sanatorium. "FUCK YOU, GOAT BITCH!" It was silent for a moment before there was a loud crash outside in the hallway.

Mark paled significantly, this time in fear. _Oh god, he's an idiot that's going to get me killed again._

Donghyuck hadn't even flinched but stared at Mark. Literally stared straight through him. This wasn't the first time this had occurred but Donghyuck swore it was his imagination the first few times. There were times when Mark seemed to not be entirely there, like his body wanted to fade into nothingness. "Mark, are you okay?"

"No, I'd rather not die again!"

"That's not what I meant. You're-" Donghyuck was cut off by the door to the room slamming shut and locking. "Oh fuck."

"Donghyuck, I hate you. You so owe me if we get out of this."

"Loud and clear." Donghyuck set the filming gear down and yanked at the door. It was no use; it was sealed shut no matter how hard he pulled. "Aren't locks supposed to work from the inside?"

"There is a supernatural force in the room with us," Mark's disbelief was replaced with a shriek as he ducked to avoid a piece of glass flying towards his face. "And you're wondering about a lock?"

"Fuck this," Donghyuck cursed under his breath. He turned to face the rest of the room. His voice filled the room as he spoke some sort of incantation as he drew in the air. The chaos caused by the patient stopped at his words. 

Mark's jaw dropped. "When did you learn a warding spell? No, better yet: _you_ knew about it this entire time!" If Donghyuck had thought about using it on him and was just waiting for the right time…

But Donghyuck just shrugged sheepishly and admitted, "I knew about it since the night we met."

"Then why haven't you, well you know."

"Because I like having you around." Mark, flustered, made sure to avoid all eye contact and proceeded to fling the now unlocked door open. Sure, they were having a serious conversation but he'd rather it not get interrupted by the demon coming back and killing him. "But Mark I think it might be a good time to send you back to hell."

"Why? " Mark failed to keep the hurt out of his voice. Being rejected isn't exactly a fun past-time of his.

"No, it's nothing like that." Donghyuck quickly insisted. "It's just that I've been, well, um…"

"Yes?"

"You've been sort of fading recently. Like you're not entirely always here."

Mark let a laugh, more in relief than anything. "That's all?"

"That's all?" Donghyuck parroted with slight disdain. "What if you're like fading permanently?"

They climbed into his buggy and Mark explained as they drove far, far away from that place. 

"If I die in this state it'll be because of something you pull like back there provoking the patient, not from fading in and out. I belong in hell so if I'm away after a while-"

"You fade away."

"Yes, I become sort of like a shell of myself. But it's not permanent, well at least I think it's not. I've never met anyone who's had this happen. But there are rumors…" Mark clamped his lips in distaste.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just a theory." (A film theory.)

"No." Donghyuck looked over at him at a red light, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. "What is it, Mark?"

"Let's just say I might turn out to be like that patient." The silence that followed was overwhelming.

_Mark? Become the goat lady. Bitter to the end? No way._ But Donghyuck had to remind himself there was a reason Mark ended up as a demon to begin with. No saint goes to hell. 

Mark chuckled and attempted to break the uncomfortable silence. "The worst part though…"

"What, what is it?" Donghyuck's eyebrows furrowed in concern, fingers tapping anxiously on the steering wheel.

"I'll still have to do whatever you say." And sure, past Donghyuck would have loved that but now...

"Hey," Mark interrupted his thoughts. "You got the camera, right?"

"What?!? I thought you had it." Panic spread through Donghyuck as Mark shook his head.

"I handed it to you to film me earlier."

"Shit!" Donghyuck cursed at himself. "I'm such a fucking moron." 

"Hey, maybe since I'm demon I could pop in really quick and, well, get it without being noticed as quickly as you might," Mark offered. 

"No, it's fine. Besides you said you're in human form right now, so I don't think that'd work." Donghyuck sighed and clenched the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Doyoung's going to skin me alive."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better…" Mark pulled a small object from his pocket. "Renjun told me to bring this recorder in the event this happened again. He should really go into the fortune telling business." 

Donghyuck's eyes widened. "I could fucking kiss you right now, Mark Lee. Holy shit." 

Mark's eyes flicked over Donghyuck's face for a moment before he turned to look out the window, ears beet red. "It was Renjun's idea. I just did what I was told."

"Still, thank you for doing it." Donghyuck gave him a blinding smile. It was so stunning that Mark, bewitched, melted in his seat and when Donghyuck would ask him why later, he would blame it on the temperature even though it was only in the 60s. 

"I'm your demon after all, it's only suiting." They shared a look, and Donghyuck turned on the radio. "The carriage can speak?!?"

"Mark, it's called a car. Honestly, you've had hundreds of years to catch up."

"I've been busy," Mark protested.

"Doing what?" Donghyuck cocked his head when Mark spoke too softly for him to hear. "What was that?"

"I said I'm a florist, asshole," Mark huffed at him, and Donghyuck didn't even try to choke back his laugh. 

Donghyuck slammed on the brake and the car behind him honked at him before swerving around. Donghyuck sent an apologetic wave before pulling over. "Oh my god, that's so adorable. And an oxymoron if you think about it," Donghyuck wheezed.

"Don't tease me," Mark whined, sliding down in his seat. "Oh gah, fuck." He had slid down so much that his seatbelt caught around his throat.

"Good job." Mark responded by pulling his hood up and tugging it shut by the strings. Donghyuck reached over to pull it down and cooed, "I'm not teasing you, Mark. That's just so cute. You'll have to make me a flower arrangement or something."

Mark, deep in thought and partial embarrassment, didn't reply until Donghyuck resumed driving. Gingerly tucking some of Donghyuck's hair, that was sticking out due to the night's earlier occurrence, behind his ear with a shaky and unsure hand, Mark spoke in a gentle manner, "Yeah, I will."

It turned out Mark would be able to give him flowers sooner than he had expected.

"Absolutely not. Donghyuck, no." Mark set his bowl down on the coffee table and reached for the tv remote, muting it. They had been lounging after a long day of editing, becoming absorbed in Detective Conan, when Donghyuck sprang it up on him. 

“Just think about it.”

“I did, and I think not.” Mark began to get up.

“Why not?” Donghyuck tugged at the sleeve of Mark’s shirt, effectively causing him to sit back down. “Hey, I think it’s a good idea.” 

“In what part of you going to hell, filled with demons, is a good idea?”

“When it included you going back home.” Donghyuck’s sincerity must have been evident by the way Mark’s eyes softened slightly. 

Mark sighed and pulled Donghyuck off of him. “No, hyuck.” He picked up his bowl and retreated into the kitchen of their apartment.

Donghyuck’s eyes narrowed at the door. “Fine, if that’s how it’s going to be so be it.” 

The next week of Mark’s life gave him a true glimpse of hell. 

“He won’t talk to me,” Mark whined to Jeno in annoyance. “He’s avoiding me.”

Jeno set down his mug and peered over at Mark from across the breakroom table. “I’m sure that’s not true.” 

Mark sent him a look of disbelief. “Yesterday when I offered him pork belly, he didn’t even spare me a glance.” 

“Maybe he was just too focused on whatever he was doing.”

“He was laying on the floor!”

“Maybe he was zoned out? I do that sometimes,” Jeno uselessly countered.

“Not everyone has a mid-life crisis every night surrounded by cats, Jeno. Just watch. Get him in here.” 

Jeno rolled his eyes at him but left the room to do so. He soon came back with an oblivious Donghyuck trailing behind him. “-your cats. Seriously, you are a hopeless cause if you don’t realize that Renjun and Jaemin-” Donghyuck’s eyes found his way to a seated Mark. “Oh...hey, Jeno how about we go to a conference room. I need to get some papers ready.” Donghyuck turned around and left without any confirmation. 

“Oh my god,” Jeno wheezed, pulling out his inner Janice. “Oh my god, he’s avoiding you!” 

Mark replied with an obscene gesture. “No shit, like I said.”

“You’re so screwed. Donghyuck never gives the silent treatment. Not even when Jaemin accidentally ruined his signed MJ vinyl.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Don’t scowl at me. I’m not the one who got you into deep water here.” 

“Sorry,” Mark sighed, resting his face in his palm. “I just don’t know what to do.” 

"Have you tried…" And with that Mark went home that night with a terrible plan.

"Mark Lee! What fuck?" Donghyuck tugged at the handcuff that Mark placed on him, the other half on his own wrist.

"You refused to talk to me in my defense."

"And handcuffing yourself to me was your brilliant solution?" Mark winced at the harshness in his tone.

"Actually, it was Jeno's idea and it's not like you exactly gave me much of a choice."

"But I did, and you made the wrong choice."

"How?"

"Mark, you have to go back to hell."

"Are you really that eager to get rid of me?"

"What? No. I just couldn't bear to see you turn out like... like the patient, knowing it was my fault. Plus, I've always wanted to go to hell. I'm gay after all." Donghyuck cracked a small smile, and Mark's stomach felt itself being tugged at. 

"And I couldn't bear to know that for me to go home, you would have to go. I can't promise I can protect you there, Donghyuck. Hell isn't the same as Earth."

"Many people would disagree."

"Donghyuck."

"Sorry, serious moment. But Mark, I trust you with my life. You can't kill me, but you could've made my life horrible and you didn't." 

"I don't trust myself."

"Mark," Donghyuck grabbed a hold onto Mark's hand that was connected to his. "I love my job. I love my friends. It's not a bad life. I'm content. But I'm bored, exhausted. I didn't want to do it anymore and then I met you. I don't remember the last time I've been this happy to get out of bed and face the world every day. I don't want to live through that again."

"Donghyuck, I-" Donghyuck could barely make out the words as Mark refused to look at him. Donghyuck pushed his chin up with his hand. 

"Let me go home with you, Mark." Donghyuck smiled as a hesitant resolve washed over Mark's face.

"I-" Mark peered up at Donghyuck as if he was truly seeing him for the first time.

"Good," Donghyuck chuckled. "Because I might have already had the coin ready."

Donghuck looked down at the coin slotted between their hands, and Mark let out a scoff, though he had to bite back the smile threatening to take over his lips. "Lee Donghyuck, you are so dead once we get there."

Donghyuck pressed the coin into Mark's palm and his smile widened at the sight. "See you on the other side, Mark Lee."

Within the blink of an eye, the apartment disappeared and was replaced with green scenery. They seemed to have landed themselves at a park. Around them people bustled along, absorbed in their own tasks. Rubbing his face from the sudden change, Donghyuck realized the handcuffs were no longer there.

"Hell has a park?"

"We're demons, not sadists."

An older man, who was residing near them in his vending area, wafted the tteokbokki he was selling, and it wrapped itself pleasantly around Donghyuck's senses. Donghyuck's stomach growled at the smell. Donghyuck had been so emotionally exhausted that he hadn't even realized his hunger until then. 

A few people around them gave Donghyuck curious glances but made no indication they would act on it. 

"I'm so fucking hungry that flames, flames on the side of my face, Mark. I feel like I could kill all five of my husbands for food."

"What on earth are you talking about? And five?" Mark, alarmed, looked over at Donghyuck. Donghyuck internally cried, there was a lot of pop culture they had to catch up on. 

"Maybe it's because I'm in hell. And yes, just the five. Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong and disposable"

"You're in hell, not a fucking furnace. Stop being melodramatic."

"Have you even met me?"

Mark paused for a moment then sighed, "I know a place I can take you."

"Is it a slaughterhouse house? Please tell me it's not a slaughterhouse."

"What? No, why would it be a slaughterhouse?"

"I don't know, I'm in hell. I don't know how things work here. Or if there are laws…do humans have rights here?"

"Do you want to eat or not, hyuck?" He waited for him to nod. "Okay, come on." 

Donghyuck took into the heavenly (ha, the irony) design of the city before he suddenly jumped. There was a train passing by them above. It was not the train that surprised him but rather the railing it laid upon. It seemed animated without support on the ground, curling around the buildings that were slowly orbiting around the center skyscraper. He felt intimidated, for he could not see how far the dark building towered. His eyes widened at the advanced architecture; this was something far beyond human comprehension. 

"You can gape later." Mark, eyes sparkling in amusement, dragged him into a simplistic building with a few cute chairs and tables placed outside. The building's sign read, "Screamin' Souls". 

"How reassuring." Donghyuck eyed the sign wearily.

As they stepped into the small location, a bell hanging above the door chimed to indicate their arrival. The cafe's set up was simple with tables littered around and a display case near the register. Everything inside was a soft neutral that gave Donghyuck an immediate like to the place. 

"Et tu, Mark?" The person standing behind the cash register looked up as the bell rang, indicating the arrival of customers. Donghyuck couldn't help but admire their soft pink hair that accented perfectly to their skin tone. 

"Are you ever going to stop greeting me like that?" Mark rolled his eyes. "That was eons ago."

"You, along with your quote friends unquote, stabbed me twenty-eight times in the back. Twenty-eight stab wounds. And it was my wedding day. So no, I'm not."

"Uhhh…"

"It's a long story. And to be fair, you didn't want to get married anyway." Mark sent Donghyuck a pleading look to avoid his brother's long-simmering anger. "Taeyong, do you have anything he can eat?"

"Anything for my baby brother's boyfriend," Taeyong winked before going to grab something from the display case, and Mark sputtered indignantly. Donghyuck took a seat at the bar by the cash register when Taeyong placed a plate with a cheese danish in front of him. 

"Thanks."

"No problem, want anything to drink?"

"Do you have hot chocolate?"

"Sure thing, whipped cream?"

"Yes. Mark, I love hell." Donghyuck turned around to face the other, who looked betrayed. "Why do you look so ugly?"

"He's my brother and didn't ask me if I wanted anything."

"Well, you did stab him."

"That was a millennial ago!"

"Wounds don't heal fast, but I suppose you can have a bite." Donghyuck playfully waves his fork in the air with a piece of the danish. He leaned in towards him and poked his lips with the fork. Mark, eyes glancing away as his cheeks darkened red, slightly parted his mouth and slowly chewed. It was unnervingly quiet as they waited for the other to speak.

"Wow, that shit slaps." Mark bluntly commented, causing Donghyuck to break out into an uncontrollable wheeze.

"Enlightening review, you're the next Anton Ego. Truly paving the way."

"I do not appreciate your sarcasm."

A few hot chocolates and pastries later, the pair found themselves entering Mark's apartment. His real apartment before it had all started. 

"Welcome to my humble abode, I guess." Mark awkwardly shuffled in, Donghyuck trailing right behind. 

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow. "You didn't know about videos, but you know the phrase humble abode? You demons sure are weird."

"We have some demons that are younger, so I guess I just picked up on it."

"How many times have they used that for you to pick up on it."

"You've never met Yuta before and you're lucky you haven't. He died at the same time as me, but he's obsessed with all the new things."

"If he makes you feel like that then I think we'd get along perfectly."

"Trust me, you don't want to, he can be a bit…"

"A bit what?"

"Let's just hope you don't have to ever find out." Mark strolled into his kitchen and Donghyuck followed, not knowing what else to do. Mark whined at the sight of his kitchen. 

"You weren't kidding about that watermelon." Donghyuck muffled his laugh with his sleeve as Mark pouted about his half-cut watermelon, now moldy.

"I got that on sale too!" Mark's tone made him sound like a dog that had just been kicked, and Donghyuck couldn't stop the laugh that escaped his throat. Mark glared at him and pointed, an attempt at threatening (though it wasn't threatening in the slightest).

"Don't you dare laugh, you're the one who caused this." Mark's pitiable face only caused Donghyuck to double over as he laughed even harder. 

"Sorry, I'll stop now. Promise." Donghyuck stifled his laugh as Mark's pleased face in response almost pushed him over the edge. _What a dork._

"I can show you around more tomorrow, but you should probably go ahead and get some rest. It's really late." Mark's eyes flicked over to the clock on his microwave that read 2:34 am. Donghyuck's eyebrows furrowed at the number.

"But it was just the afternoon…"

"Time works differently here. It's fluid."

"This is so weird." Donghyuck went over to look out the window, looking in between the closed blinds. It was pitch black save for what looked like stars (Mark would later explain they are actually tormented souls) shining down on them.

"That's hell for you, but at least it's not heaven. Those poor people have to wear shades twenty-four seven, it's so bright." Mark put away a takeout box they got from Taeyong. "Anyway, I'll show you to the guest room?"

"Okay," Donghyuck followed him down the hall. Mark pointed out anything he might need before cracking open the door at the end to the right. "Here you are." The room was mostly bare save a queen bed and a desk.

Donghyuck walked over to the desk in the corner of the room and peered down at the photo frame placed in the corner. A smile tugged on to Donghyuck's face. It was Mark, panicked, with another man who was chasing him with a pie tin full of whipped cream. 

"That's Yuta." Mark had made his way over to Donghyuck's side. 

"How long ago was this?" Donghyuck tilted his head to the side to get a better look at Mark's face. The photo didn't do him justice like the shadows laying across his face then, sharpening his cheekbones. 

"About fifty years or so, give or take. It was my birthday but those get a bit dull after a while."

"Really? I love birthdays, a whole day of me and no one can complain." Mark looks at him in amusement, fondness taking over his eyes. "I'm going to make sure your next birthday is unforgettable. It will be the best one you will ever have, graced by my presence."

"I'm going to hold you up on that." Mark stifled a yawn. "Well, I'm going to head off to bed now. Night, hyuck." He went to walk away, and Donghyuck's hand shot up but fell right back down. 

Mark stopped when he noticed his hesitation. "Donghyuck?" Maybe it was the concern present on Mark's face but any of Donghyuck's hesitation was washed away immediately.

Donghyuck leaned in and wrapped his arms around Mark. He heard Mark's breath hitch at the sudden contact. _No_ , He chided himself, _It's just my imagination, idiot._ He pulled away just as quickly and turned away from Mark to hide his face, wanting nothing more than to dive under the bed's covers. "Good night, Mark."

The doors softly closed shut and Donghyuck let out a quiet exhale. He would find it hard to sleep that night with the hug plaguing his thoughts. 

Contradictory to common belief, Lee Donghyuck is not a morning person. 

“Who in their right fucking mind drops an atomic bomb at eight sixteen in the morning?” Donghyuck grumbled softly as his eyes were slow to crack open. (dudu du dudu du dudu du Du dududu *buzzes in* What are Americans?)

Eventually peeling himself off the bed, Donghyuck exited the guest room and made his way to the main area to be met with Mark struggling to pull on his shoes. His eyes went to the shattered vase on the floor near Mark, and he attributed the object to the crash that had woken him.

"Mark? Where are you going?"

"Work, I'll be back in a few hours. Go back to bed, hyuck." Mark shrugged his jacket on and then walked over to Donghyuck, patting down his bed head. 

"Don't you dare."

"What? What'd I do?"

"You went to work with me, I get to go to work with you. Don't even think that you can get out of giving me flowers that easily, bitch."

"Okay, okay," Mark laughed. "Hurry up and get dressed."

Exactly eleven minutes and twenty-eight seconds later, they made their way out of the apartment block and onto the street. 

Donghyuck shivered as the breeze hit him. It had just been sunny the previous day but somehow it turned bitterly cold overnight. 

"The weather depends on the devil's mood. Let's just try not to run into him today." Mark explained, noticing Donghyuck's shivers. "Here." He shrugged off his top jacket and handed it over to Donghyuck.

"This is the part where you're supposed to go 'well damn, Jackie! I can't control the weather.'" Nevertheless, Donghyuck took the jacket and hugged it around himself. "You're not a very good demon."

Mark opened his mouth then shut it just as fast. "Nope, I'm not going to even try to argue against you."

"Good, I'm the superior being anyway." 

"I can literally turn in a bird and somehow your superior?"

"Well, for one, I'm still alive."

"Fuck off, I-"

"MARK LEE!" a voice called out from behind them, cutting off whatever remark was forming. 

Donghyuck turned to look but was stopped by Mark who cursed under his breath and sped up, dragging Donghyuck with him.

"Slow down! God, you're going to break my legs off!" Donghyuck 

Mark pulled him around a corner and into an alleyway. "Sorry sweetheart, but I'm not a god." 

Donghyuck scowled. "You and I both know what I meant, Markus." 

"That's not even my name."

"Marques? Marquell?" 

Mark glanced to the side and squawked nervously, pushing Donghyuck against the brick wall and putting his hand over Donghyuck's mouth before he could ask why. 

Naturally-like the bitch he was-Donghyuck licked his hand, and Mark yanked it back in disgust. "What the fuck, hyuck?"

Donghyuck gave him a not-so-sorry smile. "My bad." 

Mark glared at him but before he could burn holes into Donghyuck, the person who had been following rounded the corner. A fuzzy recognition crossed Donghyuck's mind, but he couldn't quite place the name to the face or where he had seen him before. 

Long silver hair pinned back on one side and walking towards them with an unhurried gait, the man smiled. "Mark Lee, did my eyes just deceive me, or did you run away from me?" 

Mark groaned, head leaning against Donghyuck's shoulder as he mumbled under his breath, something along the words of "why me?" 

The silver-haired man's eyes flicked over to Donghyuck. His smile stretched even wider. "Mark Lee, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend. Oh, Taeyongie is going to have a fit when he finds out." 

"Go away, Yuta." Mark peeled himself off Donghyuck, whose brain quickly pieced the information together. _The photo on the desk._

"You're not going to even introduce me? Your own family?" Yuta raised an eyebrow at Mark as did Donghyuck. _Family?_

"We're not even related."

"I'm hurt, I thought we bonded over killing your brother." 

"What the fuck," Donghyuck blurted out. 

"Oh, Mark didn't tell you about that?"

"He did but I'm really starting to question his life decisions right now."

"Imagine knowing him when he was still alive."

"Oh god, please don't bond over my sins."

"Shut up, Markus. The adults are talking."

"I told you that's not my name!"

"Actually, his name during the dynasty was Minhyung," Yuta offered, eyes glistening with mischief. 

"How the fuck do you go from that to Mark?"

"He had a bit of an impulsive sexscape in Canada back in the '80s." Donghyuck cackled loudly at the new information causing Mark to consider bashing his head against the wall. 

"See! This is why I didn't want you two to meet, Donghyuck. I knew you two would get along too well and cause me endless suffering."

"Donghyuck, is it?" Yuta offered his hand, which Donghyuck shook.

"Yep," Donghyuck's lips popped with the pronunciation. "I think we're going to become good friends." 

"Do you want to hear about this one-time Mark, before he died, got lost when we were traveling for the king and somehow joined a cult?"

"How many times do we have to go over this? It wasn't a cult! They just had some really interesting beliefs, and I was curious, that's all." Mark protested but they both ignored him. 

"Oh god yes." Donghyuck's grin spoke volume, and Mark knew he would never hear the end of it. 

Mark groaned as Yuta recounted a handful of scarring memories he long erased from his mind.

What seemed like days later but was barely an hour, Yuta bid them farewell and they finally walked to Mark's work. 

Mark flipped the switch on the wall, causing the lights to flicker at first, as Donghyuck shrugged off Mark's jacket. 

"So, this is the bat cave," Donghyuck remarked, finger running lightly across a bundle of peonies on Mark's workspace. 

"Oh, I think I get that reference! Batman, right?" Mark's eyelashes fluttered as he looked down to get started on a customer's order, and Donghyuck's throat went dry.

"Yeah," he spoke softly, pulling a stool to sit by Mark as he worked. 

Donghyuck dropped his head onto the table, mindlessly staring out the window as Mark bustled around the shop. It was quiet, save for Mark's low humming. 

It was the first time in a while where Donghyuck was able to just think, to process everything. It seemed like just yesterday he, Jaemin, and Renjun had stepped into that haunted house and Mark, likewise, into his life. When, in reality, it had been several months since. It was a blur full of content that Donghyuck had never experienced up until then. 

Looking at Mark, who blinded Donghyuck with his hair falling softly on his forehead just right and focused eyes as he worked in the lambent lighting, several words materialized to define the feeling in his chest. Fondness, affection, warmth, any and all synonyms to these. 

Realization struck him straight through the heart and his breath hitch. He was falling for the demon. He had caught feelings for him. He was completely and utterly-

Mark shoved a colorful bundle of flowers right up in his face. 

"What's this?" Donghyuck managed to pull himself together to utter the question. Mark flushed, eyes looking at the ground as Donghyuck delicately grabbed the bouquet. 

"Well you said you wanted one so, yeah, here you go."

"Thank you." Donghyuck smiled widely and truly meant it. He quickly shushed the voice in the back of his head that reminded him of his recent epiphany. "What are they called?"

"The white and pink flowers that look similar are camellias, the yellow looking things are acacias, and the white one in the middle is a daffodil."

"What do they mean?" Donghyuck eyed the one and only white daffodil, arranged at the center, in particular. 

"Huh?"

"Well, aren't flowers supposed to be symbolic? Flower language?" Donghyuck set the bundle onto the table to glance at Mark, who had been looking at him, but his eyes flashed away just in a split second.

"Oh, right, um, they're just symbolic generally of many things. Nice things in fact. Um, hold on I have to go, uh, flower the waters. I mean water the flowers." Mark stumbled over his words and limbs as he hurried away, and Donghyuck laughed heartily at the incoherent jumble. 

And so, the next few weeks passed by, just as blissful as that day. Of course, happiness only lasts so long. 

A pleasant feeling surrounded them as Mark struggled to bake basic chocolate chip cookies. 

"Honestly, you've accomplished the impossible. How do you fuck up cookies?"

"Well, apparently by adding too much flour." Mark scowled as Donghyuck, all smiles, banged the hard-as-rock cookie on the counter.

The cookie didn't crack even remotely in impact and the two gawked at the discovery. "I'm going to break the counter at this rate. This might just be stronger than graphene."

"The fidenae amphitheater wouldn't have fell if it was made out of that."

"You died in Korea long ago, why do you know about Ancient Rome but not literally anything pertaining to modern-day."

"I know a guy." Mark shrugged, and Donghyuck narrowed his eyes but let it slide.

Cleaning out the mixing bowl, Donghyuck pushed Mark aside to make the cookies himself. Mark sat down on a barstool and just simply watched, a comfortable silence falling in place between them. 

A click came from across the room, the locked door handle, and then a soft series of knocks. The two exchanged a quick glance, fighting over who would go get the door, and Mark stood up and walked over after a finality glossed over Donghyuck's eyes. "Just a moment, I'm coming."

Swinging the door wide open, Mark was met with a face not unfamiliar, though he was caught off guard.

"Hey, Jaehyun. What are you doing here?" Mark moved to the side to let him in and motioned for him to follow him back over to the kitchen, where Donghyuck was cracking an egg.

"I needed to speak with you," Jaehyun, clad in all black, gave him a polite smile, dimples peeking out. Mark made a mental note of the hair color change from the previous crimson red to a light, soft brown. It made him look more approachable and was overall a nice change. 

"Donghyuck, this Jaehyun, though you would know him better as the devil." 

"Hello," Donghyuck gave him a small wave because how do you greet the devil himself?

"Oh, I've heard plenty about you, Lee Donghyuck." 

"Uh, you have? Ignore the cookies, don't ever let Mark in the kitchen." Mark scoffed but went silent again after Donghyuck sent him an _and what about it?_ gaze. 

"Wasn't planning on it and how could I not between you slandering my home all the time or when Doyoung-"

"Doyoung?" Donghyuck's eyebrows shot up at the familiar name. "Do you mean Kim Doyoung? The one from Buzzfeed?"

"Just forget what I said. We need to talk." Jaehyun drummed his fingers on the counter, causing Donghyuck's heart to pick up its pace. 

"We do?"

"Well...I just said we do, so yes we do."

"Ah, so we do."

"Yes, we do."

"Okay."

"This conversation is giving me a headache," Mark groaned, leaning onto the counter. "Get on with it."

"Sorry." Jaehyun sent him an apologetic smile, eyes not so much. Donghyuck was even less sorry, playfully flicking Mark off. "Let's just get down to business here."

"To defeat the hans," Donghyuck couldn't help but crack out and Mark stifled a grin. He might not understand pop culture, but Mulan was what knowledge Donghyuck decided to grace (his words not Mark's) him with.

Instead, he outwardly groaned. "I swear to god, Hyuck." Donghyuck stuck his tongue out at the aggravated demon.

"Hey now, you work for the devil here."

"Sorry, Jaehyun." He, too, was not that sorry. 

"Anyway…the point being is you don't work for me like Mark. You're not a demon."

"Okay?" Donghyuck slowly set the spoon down and gave him his full and undivided attention. His tone hadn't set well with him. 

"You don't belong here," Jaehyun said bluntly, not breaking eye contact. 

"So, what you're kicking him out?" Mark looked at him in disbelief, eyes begging him to say otherwise. 

It pained Jaehyun, but he couldn't make an exception, even if it was Mark. He was the devil. "That's exactly what I'm doing."

"You can't just do that!" Mark's face was ridden with the hurt he was feeling. Donghyuck only stood there, looking as Mark broke into a panic. "You can't just take Donghyuck. Not now, I, you can't. Jaehyun-"

"Mark," Jaehyun said harshly then sighed and spoke more gently this time. "It's not his time yet."

"But-"

"Don't be selfish, Mark. You may no longer be alive, but he deserves to have his." This harsh truth silenced Mark into unwilling acceptance because Jaehyun was right.

Donghyuck didn't share the same sentiment. "No, bullshit. I wanted to be here. Just because you're the devil doesn't give you the right to decide how I want to spend my life away."

"Actually, it does." Jaehyun finally had the goodwill to look away. "I really am sorry if it means anything. But some ancient laws are past me. This is one that can't be broken. Humans don't belong with the dead. I can give you a few moments to say goodbye but that is it." Jaehyun was kind enough to make his way over to the couch, close enough to still here in case they plotted anything but far away enough to be deemed not intrusive.

"Donghyuck, I'm sorry." Mark choked on his words as tears welled up, distorting his view of the other.

Donghyuck let out a wet laugh, his eyes full of sadness. "Don't apologize, idiot. Those will not be the last words you say to me."

"I guess this is it."

"Yeah, it is." Mark's eyes widened as Donghyuck pulled him into a tight embrace. "Don't mess up those cookies this time, Mark Lee. They have been blessed by my goddamn love."

"I'm going to miss you," Mark confessed, clutching onto him for dear life. 

"And I, you beautiful demon," Donghyuck smiled, lips quivering. 

Even with his face streaked with tears and eyes puffy and red, Donghyuck was the most beautiful human Mark had ever laid eyes on. 

Mark tenderly placed his trembling hands on Donghyuck's waist and pulled him into a deep, tearful hug that ended far too soon. "Goodbye, Lee Donghyuck." Donghyuck could only find it in himself to cry even harder as Mark faded away, replaced by their apartment. Now only his apartment again. 

-

Three months.

Donghyuck wished he could say he put himself back together after a long three months, but here he was, half-heartedly alive. Heart twisting with sadness every now and then as he struggled to find a reason to get out of bed every morning. To go to work. To follow the seemingly endless cycle of life. 

So no, the three months did not treat him kindly. This was the worst breakup he had ever experienced that is if it could even be considered a relationship to begin with.

It took great effort to find it in himself to have enough energy to lift himself off his cocoon of blankets and move himself to his kitchen. It was far past midnight. 

Groggy, Donghyuck slapped some peanut butter messily on an untoasted piece of bread. His staple depression meal as Jaemin labeled it, having been over to make him eat earlier that afternoon.

Bringing it up to his lips to take a bite, Donghyuck heard a series of soft clatters coming from the room opposite of the Kitchen door, followed by slow, careful footsteps. 

Too distracted previously by Jaemin worriedly pestering over him as Donghyuck shoved him out, Donghyuck hadn't locked the front door. _Shit._

Donghyuck stilled in place, frozen save for his wavering eyes. He slowly placed the butter knife down and crept quietly over to the door of the kitchen. His heart was pounding so hard and loudly in his ear that he feared it could be heard. He was almost to the door when the floor whined in protest at him. His head whipped over the door as if he was waiting for it to open any second. His palms stung as his fingernails dug crescent shapes into them, skin being broken in the process. 

He let out a breath and continued his slow pace when the door made no sign of moving. When Donghyuck got to the door, he lightly placed his hand on the door and inched it forward ever so slightly. 

When he had it cracked open enough, he stuck his head out enough to peer into the dark living room, lit only by the lamp he had on moments earlier. The first thing he took in was the rustling of the cabinet of his desk, residing in front of the window only eight feet away. Eyes adjusted to the dimmer setting, Donghyuck made out a silhouette clothed in black from head to toe, including a ski mask.

Donghyuck's hand, sweaty from fear, lost its hold on the door handle. The handle made a click, causing the intruder to snap their attention to the sudden noise. Panicked and blood rushing out of his face, Donghyuck fell back into the kitchen, trapped with the one exit no longer being an option. He scrambled to get up and grab something, anything as their footsteps quickly became louder. He reached the counter, fumbling for the butterknife, but was seconds too late as he was yanked back by his shirt. The knife went clattering to the floor as Donghyuck stumbled, trying to turn around. 

He was barely able to face the masked person as they hit him in the diaphragm, forcing all the air Donghyuck's lungs held out as they spasmed. He found himself struggling to breathe as they punched him dead on his nose, pain ebbing through his face as his eyes began to water. 

Donghyuck's mind went into spirals as it desperately searched for an escape. He clawed at their dull brown eyes, digging them in with no mercy. Their hands shot up to protect themselves, allowing Donghyuck to slip towards the door. 

It was a useless attempt, he realized, as he felt a sharp, piercing pain right where his left kidney resided, and he fell onto his knees with a cry. He let out a broken sob as he was pulled back by the hair and the back of his head was slammed onto the floor. His head screamed as white flashed in his eyes. He, with a splitting headache forming, struggled to push them off but was met with a much stronger force as they, much larger than Donghyuck, slammed him back onto the ground with ease.

Donghyuck's scream died in his throat as his body became rigid, the pain too excruciating to completely comprehend, as they yanked him by the hair again and threw his head down again. They, straddling Donghyuck in place, grabbed the closest object to them and lifted it up. Donghyuck's eyes widened as he registered what it was. He thrashed hopelessly around, pleading for them to not. 

They, seemingly unfazed by the pain they were inflicting, shoved him still and grabbed Donghyuck tightly by the neck. Donghyuck scratched at their hand, small gasps escaping his mouth as his esophagus closed. As Donghyuck struggled for air, they plunged the butter knife, covered in peanut butter, straight through Donghyuck's right eye. 

Hot tears trailed down his face as Donghyuck weakened in their hold. His breaths became shallow. The lack of oxygen caused his head to become static until it slowly faded into nothing. 

Donghyuck bolted up in a seated position and let out a shriek. His hand scrambled to touch his eye, only for him to poke it. He yelped but found himself relieved. "I can see!"

"So, it seems." A familiar voice laughed softly behind him. Donghyuck, squinting due to the sun's brightness, turned his head to be met with his boss staring off in the horizon. Doyoung, who seemed to almost be glittering around the bright sun as he wore all white and sunglasses, looked down at him with amusement. "You must be a bit... surprised to see me." Doyoung handed Donghyuck a different pair of sunglasses and he gratefully accepted it.

"Understatement of the year. Didn't I just die?" Donghyuck rose off the grass and dusted it off his pants. Doyoung nodded in confirmation. "Then why are we here?" Donghyuck gestured to the beautiful scenery.

"Ah, that's exactly why we're here. We have much to discuss. Hmmm, where should I start? You'd think after all these millenniums have passed that I'd have it figured out by now." 

"Millennium?" Donghyuck looked at his boss in genuine surprise. Thinking about it, he thought of someone down below. He shook his head, ridding himself of the thought. But he did recall an earlier conversation with Jaehyun. "Wait, are you God?" 

"Do I look young for my age? Jaehyun says I'm getting greys, but I think he's just pushing my buttons."

"What is God doing working at Buzzfeed?" Donghyuck was bewildered at the fact, having worked there for a while. 

"You'd get bored of being praised and held so high too if you were God for as long as I have been. Nobody can hate you more than your own employees in true living hell." Doyoung stooped down for a moment to pluck a dandelion. Donghyuck flailed his arms around as Doyoung blew on it towards his face. "Of course, that didn't exactly go as planned and soon enough, I met you and I was then there for a new reason."

Donghyuck, grimaced as he plucked parts of the dandelion off his lips. "And that was?"

"I want you to become one of my angels."

Donghyuck let out a laugh of disbelief. "Me? That's hilarious, Doyoung."

"That would have been my thoughts as well about a year ago, but I've grown quite fond of you, though you can be irritating at times," Doyoung admitted. "It does help that you technically sent a demon back to hell as well."

"Yeah." Donghyuck's voice came out borderline poisonous. 

"Now that's the other thing. The good news is if you agree to become an angel, you might get a reunion of sorts." Doyoung stomped the ground twice in a row.

"What was the point in that?" Donghyuck asked when nothing happened.

"Just be patient." 

Luckily for Donghyuck's impatience, it didn't take long for Doyoung's meaning to become clear. Standing right before the two, Mark and Jaehyun had materialized. Too entranced with their own conversation, they didn't seem to notice they had been transported. 

_Mark._

Donghyuck smiled, face beginning to twitch from just how wide, and started to move towards him but was stopped when Mark spoke. "Bro, what the fuck do mean Donghyuck's going to be an angel? There's got to be a system error."

"Mark Lee, isn't it a bit rude to speak about someone behind their back?" 

Mark's eyes widened and transfixed on him. "Donghyuck?"

"Hey bitch," Donghyuck smiled weakly at him. 

"Et Tu Mark?" Jaehyun chimed in. "There's a reason you're a demon, Mark, and he's not going to be."

"Fuck you." 

"Sorry, that's Doyoung's job."

Doyoung rolled his eyes, wrapping himself around Jaehyun's right arm. "We'll leave you to it. You and I will talk later, Donghyuck." And with the snap of his finger, they were gone.

Now alone to themselves, Donghyuck turned to face Mark. "There must be something wrong with my eyes-"

"You were just impaled there recently."

" _Because_ I can't keep them off you."

"Go see an eye doctor."

"Admit it, you missed me."

Mark scoffed, though his throat betrayed him as it came out more like a whisper. "What? You and you're stupidity?"

Donghyuck didn't know where he found the courage to do it, maybe from recently having died with regret, but he curled his fingers into the collar of Mark's shirt and pulled him down. Mark let out a yelp, but it was promptly silenced as Donghyuck connected their lips. Mark, after a moment, leaned into it as he placed his hands on Donghyuck's waist. 

Pulling away, Donghyuck offered him a smile. "Was that okay?" 

"Um," Mark's mouth supplied, mind blank. 

"You really have a way with words there, Mark."

"Shut up," Mark pulled him into another kiss, deeper this time, effectively shutting Donghyuck up.

Lips swollen and chapped, they held one another as Donghyuck rested his head on Mark's shoulder. Mark leaned down and kissed the side of his head, near his ear. 

"I'd scour heaven and hell for you."

"So... how about those cookies you promised to me?"

"Way to ruin the moment, hyuck."

"Bitch, I'm hungry."

**Author's Note:**

> Some quick flower language:  
> White camellias- symbolize adoration and are given to someone well-liked, "You're adorable"  
> Pink camellias- symbolize longing for someone  
> Yellow acacias- signifies the value of true friendship and concealed love  
> Daffodil- Unrequited love and "you're the only one"


End file.
